“Everything was stained with blood, but the parasite was basically a really white colour and this thick, big, long and very, very hard, this kind of thing was getting out from his bowel system,” Dr Lee said.

The defector is also battling tuberculosis and hepatitis B and is traumatised following his escape.

Mr Oh will also have scars and lifelong complications after his colon was shredded by a bullet and had to be repaired in seven places.

Meanwhile, figures released by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification show around 70 per cent of the 31,000 defectors who have escaped the secretive regime are women.

Defectors typically employ smugglers to help them cross the border with China, and often get to South Korea via Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Sokeel Park, the Seoul-based director of research and strategy for Liberty in North Korea told USA Today one of the reasons behind the high number of women defectors could be due to the demand for brides.

Former North Korean security officials told HRW that North Koreans who were caught escaping faced dire consequences including interrogation, torture, sexual abuse and forced labour.

“North Koreans in exile with contacts inside the country told Human Rights Watch that people caught trying to reach South Korea are treated as enemies of the state and sent to political prison camps,” HRW revealed.